Airline employee steals plane and crashes it near Seattle island

An airline employee took off in Alaska Airlines plane and crashed it shortly after taking off from Seattle airport today morning.

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IndiaToday.in

New Delhi

August 11, 2018

UPDATED: August 11, 2018 15:28 IST

US Air Force fighter jet had to divert away the plane from the city. (Photo via Twitter)

HIGHLIGHTS

An employee took off in Alaska Airlines plane from Seattle airport

He reportedly was not sure how to land it at the airport

The plane crashed shortly after the unauthorized takeoff

An airline employee stole an airplane at Seattle airport today and was chased by two military jets before crashing on a nearby island.

The Horizon Air Q400 plane of Alaska Airlines was taken by an employee from the airport which resulted in interruption of air traffic at the airport. According to ABC news, the plane had to be diverted away from the city by US Air Force fighter jet after it took off from Sea-Tac International Airport.

"Told F-15s made it within a few minutes of theft of plane. Pilots kept the plane out of harm's way and people on ground safe," the sheriff said on Twitter.

Video footage on social media showed a large plane flying above the Seattle area with an F-15 following it.

"Okay this insane. A pilot on the plane in front of us just went rogue and took off on an empty plane bypassing orders from the tower," tweeted Ben Schaechter, a passenger on an airplane that was taxiing to take off before the incident.

Alaska Airlines said that it was aware of an unauthorized take-off of a Q400 twin-engine turboprop airplane operated by its sister carrier Horizon Air.

We've confirmed a Horizon Air Q400 that had an unauthorized takeoff from SeaTac around 8pm has gone down near Ketron Island in Pierce County, WA. We're working to confirm who was on board, we believe there were no guests or crew on board other than the person operating the plane.